At the speed Sasuke and I were going, he tumbled a couple of times. I skidded to to a stop a few feet ahead of him.

Holy shit he tripped!

Girls were screaming. Sasuke started to get up, but couldn't. It looked like he sprained his ankle. Going over, I quickly checked it out, confirming the sprain. Sasuke swiped at my arms, but I heaved his arm over my shoulders and hoisted both of us up, half carrying Sasuke.

"I've got to *breathe* finish it *breathe* on my own!" Sasuke growled through strangled breaths.

"Not without help, you're not," I replied calmly. Sasuke huffed and pulled away, only to fall over after the first few steps. Iruka started forward, but I held a hand up to stop him and heaved Sasuke up once again. Iruka watched intently, tensed. The students were slowing down to see what happened, but Iruka urged them to keep going. I saw Naruto wide eyed in the crowd who passed, along with Kiba.

Sasuke heaved himself off of me again, puffing, "I don't need *breathe* any help from you!"

He fell again, groaning. I slowly walked over and held my hand out.

"Let me help you, Sasuke," I gave a serious look, extending my fingers out a bit more. He stared at my hand, then at me. I got impatient so I just grabbed his hand and helped him up once again.

I held Sasuke's arm over my shoulders, taking some of his weight and leaning down to his height. Sauske didn't say anything, only heaved breaths along with me, walking.

I helped him walk through the rest of the lap. Iruka patiently waited at the finish line with a medic nin. He had a look in his eyes I couldn't describe.

Sasuke and I stepped over the finish line while the rest of the students finished their last lap. The boys whooped and hollared. The girls called in worry, running to see if Sasuke is alright as I passed the raven haired boy off to Iruka-sensei. Iruka then passed Sasuke to the nurse who was called.

Iruka called for a break and everyone went into their respected groups of friends.

"Sebastian, come here please," Iruka called. I lowered my arms from stretching, giving a confused look. He waved his arm, a stern look on his face.

I walked slowly to him, hearing the whispers of the other students. I ignored them and walked with Iruka into the academy building.

Iruka-sensei closed the door behind me, then turned to me. Was that...pride, in his features?

"You wanted to talk, Iruka-sensei?" I inquired.

"What you did out there..." Iruka started, "was remarkable. I have never seen that happen in the years that I have been teaching. Never have I seen a fallen student be carried to the end by another and barley know each other."

Iruka rested his hands on my shoulders, and gave a proud smile.

"Sasuke has been the top of the class since the start. Always did everything on his own. Ever since his clan had...passed away, " Iruka cleared his throat nervously, " he wasn't treated like that. What you have done is something I will be sure to remember...I'm sure Sasuke won't forget either."

I frowned, remembering what Itachi had done to his little brother. But I smiled at Iruka-sensei's praise.

"I only did what I thought was right, Sensei," I voiced, giving a closed eye smile.

"And that's good," Iruka agreed, "now, it's about time for jutsu practice. We shouldn't keep the others waiting."

I followed Sensei out who walked over to the nurse, so I walked over to Naruto, who jumped up and ran over to meet me.

"What did Iruka-sensei say?!" Naruto pryed.

"Just that he's never seen what I did before..." I informed him, turning to see Kiba walk up.

"Dude, why did you do that? You could've easily won!"

"I know," I smiled.

"So why?" Kiba asked, crossing his arms.

"Because people who abandon their own are scum," I replied, "when we are out in the field, don't expect for everyone you know to make it out of every mission unharmed. Even so, no one should get left behind. We are all we have on the missions..." I trailed off, my gaze off to the trees, barley seeing the outline of the Anbu watching me.

Kiba looked the direction I was staring off into, then looked back at me confused.

"Se-kun?" Naruto asked, snapping his fingers in front of my eyes. I jerked me out of the episode of Obito and Kakashi, remembering his words to young Kakashi.

"Sorry I...spaced for a second," I chuckled nervously.

Kiba shrugged and walked off to a couple of other guys.

Naruto went on about how I looked from the regular group of students going against Sasuke. I was half tuned out, staring at the clouds. No wonder Shikamaru likes watching them. In this world the clouds are so...beautiful and free.

Crap, now I'm starting to sound like him now.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast, even lunch. I basically just listened to Iruka in a desk or Naruto the rest of the day. When we were released from the Academy for the day around 3pm, I walked out with the blonde ball of energy who would not stop talking about graduation coming up after being reminded by Iruka before we exited the classroom.

I told him I had to visit the library to study, so Naruto went off to play a prank on Iruka knowing I wouldn't get involved in his antics, telling him they were 'his thing and not mine'. Naruto didn't mind it at all, since he liked the attention he got and didn't want to share it with me and I understood that.

The Anbu guy led me to the library I was looking for and we went inside. I said hello to the old man in the back, then proceeded to browse the scrolls and books.

I found what I was looking for eventually. The scroll about the Forth Hokage and more specifically, his jutsus. For some reason, the Yellow Flash was really cool to me and I wanted to learn his technique to teleport. It would be really helpful in the future.

It took me a few hours, yawning, and a few breaks outside for fresh air, but I got the gist of it. I had to fabricate most of it from my understanding of chakra, but I thought I had it.

Step one: You have to visit the place you want to go to first and make a certain mark.

Step two: Fill the mark with your chakra. If you just scratch the mark in and not do anything else, it won't work.

Step three: Now that your chakra is linked there, you will be able to go back to that place in a 'flash' so to speak. Imagine yourself there and walla!

I rolled the scrolls back up put them back. Deciding to practice tonight in one of the training areas after shopping for more clothing.

----------

Well that was the worst idea of my life.

Panting from chakra depletion, I lay flat on my back taking big needed breathes. Doing all of this was strenuous, and I became so tired. I had did as the scrolls told. I did every step right. I've been out here for hours....

What am I doing wrong?

I had made a small mark that resembled a top hat (because why not) and filled it with my chakra on a simple tree.

I had moved away from the location, around another tree even, and did the handsigns. I imagined myself at the top hat mark.

It wasn't working. I slumped against the tree under the top hat mark. I sighed, checking my clock ring. 8pm.

"Okay...one more time."

I get up and walk slowly away from the marked tree. I walk through some bushes and behind a tree.

Concentrating, I closed my eyes and I imagined myself there while activating my chakra, next to the marked tree.

Before I could do the hand signs, I felt a strong blast of wind and felt a little sick. It made me stumble and I opened my eyes in shock.

What happened?

I found myself next to the marked tree. My jaw dropped.

I did it..?

HA HA!

The next step was to not mark something my kunai, but chakra itself without harming the surface. I walked away from the tree about ten meters and placed my palm on the ground. Imagining the shape of a top hat on the ground, I poured my chakra one last time into my hand and to the ground.

With slight excitement, I quickly removed my hand, seeing nothing changed under my palm. I frowned and tried again, meditating on the vision of the mark. I honed my chakra into the form I wanted. After the fifteenth time, I removed my palm to see a glowing mark of a top hat on the ground. A little sloppy, but it'll do.

Oh my lord I can do it!

I ran far away enough to not see the mark anymore and I imagined myself there while activating my chakra just like I did last time.

I kept my eyes open, seeing a fast flash of white in my vision, but it blinked back to see I was back at the glowing top hat symbol. With glee, I did a little victory dance.

With a sense of accomplishment, I retrieved the chakra symbol from the ground and scraped up the mark of the top hat in the tree, also retrieving the chakra from that one. A ball of pride was lodged into my chest and it swelled as I walked home.

The walk home was short since the apartments weren't that far. Closing the door behind me I leaned on the door with a sigh, locking it in the process. Turning in efforts to go to the kitchen, I reeled at the sight of a person in my apartment.

More specifically, Kakashi, reading his suggestive orange book on my couch. He looked up and saw my confused face.

"Ah Sebastian, I was waiting for you to come back," Kakashi greeted, standing from his lounging position and placed the book into his pouch attached to his hip.

"What are you doing in my house?" I questioned tiredly, shrugging my vest off and draping it on one of the dining room chairs.

"To inform you that when you graduate, you'll be placed into my team," Kakashi gave a closed eye smile through his mask that covered most of his face.

I widened my eyes in surprise, "r-really?"

The older man made a 'mm-hmm' type of sound to confirm.

"Teams huh? Like pairs?" I questioned, already knowing about the teams but wanting to look like I didn't know much.

"Squads of three, but in this special case, my team will be four with you included," Kakashi explained, showing the number of four on his fingers.

"Do you know the others that'll be on the team yet?"

"No, the Hokage hasn't assigned them officially yet."

"Cool," I say plainly, walking past him into the small kitchen area, tired but not tired enough to make some old fashioned Mac and cheese for dinner.

"Want any dinner while your here?" I ask the white haired guy who still stood in the doorway. He looked up.

"Nah, thanks. I have to get going-"

"Kakashi, you just came back from a day and night mission without sleep and just light snacks to keep you going. You need a proper meal, to-be-sensei. I insist," I turn to Kakashi as I started to heat up water in a pan, taking out a few types of cheeses from the small fridge. The jounin thought for a minute, then shrugged.

"Alright...if you insist."

Kakashi sat himself at the table and chatted about the ranks of missions when I asked, keeping up a few short conversations. Kakashi gave off a slight uncomfortable air throughout the time he was here.

"Is something wrong, Kakashi?" I asked, dumping the now cooked noodles into a strainer in the sink.

"No, Sebastian, I'm...just tired," Kakashi dismissed, though I sensed his careful wording. I hummed in response and shook the rest of the water out of the noodles, throwing them back into the pot. Off on a part of the counter, I had oolong tea brewing.

"I'm almost done with dinner now," I mumbled absentmindedly.

"What are you making? It smells...very cheesy," Kakashi commented.

"Good ol' Mac and Cheese, Kakashi," I peer around the door frame, pointing at him with a cheese covered spoon, "You have yet to try this magnificent dish!"

"Where did you learn it?" Kakashi asked, a slight tone of suspicion evident.

"Er...I honestly don't know...my brain just supplied it without much explanation," I answered, going back around the door frame to mix the cheeses in with the butter and milk I needed, "I'm apparently a great cook. Naruto said so, but I still don't know how I even do it. It's like my body just knows when to stop cooking or to start mixing...it's strange."

Kashi hummed, "It seems you're body physically remembers, like muscle memory, but you don't mentally."

"Something like that," I agreed, turning off the stove after everything was done and thoroughly mixed. I poured two cups of tea and scooped myself a generous amount, giving Kakashi a smaller amount for him to try the dish.

Satisfied with the portions, I carried Kakashi's plate and cup of tea over first, setting the cup down and handing him the bowl. He nods in thanks and I double back to grab my own bowl and drink.

Sitting down across from him, I looked at Kakashi. Almost immediately I remember that Kakashi's face was a mystery. I chuckle at the thought of the episode where Naruto speculated what Kakashi's face looked like and followed him around, even getting Sasuke and Sakura curious.

"Why are you laughing?" Kakashi asked, a little put off.

"Oh! Uh, just remembering something Naruto said, I wasn't laughing at you," I quickly covered, waving my hands in a denying manner. It was true, it was something Naruto said that made me laugh.

"Or HUGE BUCK TEETH!" *Cue image of Kakashi with large front teeth*

Not really interested in seeing Kakashi's face, I get up, excusing myself to 'go to the bathroom'. I left, tidied myself up in the bathroom to pass a few minutes, flushed the unused toilet, then went back to see Kakashi has eaten everything already.

"Was it that good? Did you breathe it?" I joked, sitting back down and starting on my own bowl that was now cool enough to eat.

"It was strange, but it tasted pretty good for someone your age cooking like that," Kakashi answered, "Thank you for the meal, Sebastian, but I must get going now..."

I nodded in understanding, swallowing and replying, "Yeah yeah, you can go. I'm satisfied that you ate something. I'm sure you've got places to be...friends to see..." I trailed off, frowning at the thought of the memorial stone.

"Yeah...you could say that," Kakashi muttered. Since he already turned around, he didn't see my frown.

After a short silence, he addressed me again, "See you tomorrow for our walk, then. I'll see myself out."

"Okay, see you tomorrow. You're welcome here anytime."

I heard the front door close quietly. With a sudden wave a sadness come over me in my apartments sudden silence, I finished eating, then cleaned everything up afterwards.

Thinking I could fill the silence, I turned the T.V on, and began to watch some random love story about a ninja from the Sand and a civilian girl from Lightning. It was okay, until the scene of sex showed up. I immediately shut it off and saw it was 10pm.

Putting on some new pajamas I got from todays shopping, I crashed onto the bed, passing out.